Marathon running has put on many different faces over the last twenty-five years. Today it flourishes across the world.  Almost every major city has found a reason to organize a 26.2 Mile race. Until the 1980's, marathons were small time affairs put on for serious, dedicated athletes.  Now, there are many varieties ranging from, trail races, to special travel tours, to huge extravaganzas.  To look at where marathoning is headed it may help to look at where it has come from.

Back in the early eighties, America's best runners made a conscious decision to fight for prize money.  Several races like the Jordache Jeans Marathon started the ball rolling. Then at the Cascade Run Off 15km in Portland, Oregon many of today's running legends decided to take a stand and open the doors to payment based on performance. Until then, race directors either clung to amateur traditions or paid money under the table to bring in well known athletes to promote their race.

The Boston Marathon in particular, which was a steadfast amateur organization, clung to its beliefs until it jeopardized the economic viability of the event to its city. Boston, which prided itself on showcasing the best talent in the world, relied primary on shoe sponsors and outside federations to bring runners. They also thought that its prestige alone would be enough to entice everyone. Outside competition from other races forced them to change but the runners benefited by the move to professionally organize the event at all levels.

Through the early 80's, Americans runners were still near the top of the heap competitively, but not for long. The whole structure of marathoning was on the verge of changing in several distinct ways.  First, major cities across the world, especially in Europe, discovered the economic advantages of putting on a major event. People loved seeing great competition and they soon offered prize money that would put them on a competitive level with the U.S.

To some degree this began to spread the competition out. To a larger degree, it created more competition and it soon put Americans at a big disadvantage. Runners from third world countries discovered a way out of agricultural based life.  As prize money grew and travel expenses became available there was more incentives for athletes from poorer countries to come to Europe, Asia and America to compete.

Most Americans could not afford to risk running full time. In the 80's, Americans were still mainly running against Americans. By the 90's U.S. dominance was long gone.  Some would say that work ethic played a part and certainly more glamorous sports garnered many great athletes. Incentives to work hard were diminished.  Why put so much effort at a national level when the chance of winning was slim and making the top five just as unlikely? An African could come over here, win a minimum of a few thousand dollars and be set for the year.  U.S. runners would barely make their rent and car payments.

As American stars became running legends at expos and clinics, races were faced with a flood of unrecognizable talent. No African has captured the imagination and praise of the U.S. public and media. Haile Gebrelassie isn't a household name. His movie Endurance managed to make it to national art house theatres and HBO but he performs mostly in Europe making it hard to develop a hero following.  A few women like Deena Drossin and Uta Pippig have the personalities to become stars but they don't have the public relations departments behind them like the major professional sports.  Lack of recognizable stars has also been a factor in the lack of local and national TV coverage. 

Still many races are willing to put money into rewarding excellence.  Last week's inaugural P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon in Arizona had first place prize money of $20 K for both men and women.  Salt Lake City is offering $100,000 in prize money for its marathon this April and India's new Mumbai Marathon is offering $200,000 the largest prize money pot in Asia. What becomes noticeable at many marathons is the lack of depth and a huge gap between the front runners and the rest of the pack.

I've watched a number of marathons with good crowds at the finish who go crazy when the first runners and women's winner appear then sit quietly for what seems like an eternity before the rest of the runners start streaming in. Statistics show that the average time has slowed considerably over the last ten years.  Fewer runners want to put the effort into excelling and more are encouraged to just finish. 

Marathon organizations have had to split their focus. Runners and sponsors want to be part of an event that has quality talent. They also want to be part of a spectacle. It is easier for organizers and cities to justify devoting recourses to an event when big crowds are participating or spectating.  They appeal to the talents of elite runners by catering to them on a number of hospitality levels.  They also appeal to the masses of runners by adding many amenities before, during and after the event.

Some of the amenities include auxiliary events such as a weekend expo and pasta dinner, the marathon relay, half marathons and 5km walks. A few have added post race concerts to encourage runners to stay in town.

The Boston Marathon has helped many races across the U.S. by setting up an acceptance standard to get into its race.  This has spawned many races to announce their event as Boston qualifier. Despite the desire to participate in Boston's prestigious race the quality gap is noticeable. Races have become much more about the mid to back packer. This is evident at huge marathons such as Honolulu, which splits its appeal to a handful of talented athletes and its tour group joggers and walkers.

The appeal to the masses is here to stay.  Cities can't afford not to. But what are the limitations? New York City and Chicago fight to be the biggest and several others set quotas. When an athlete has to fight crowds to pick up their number, eat pasta and get a drink at a water station I can't comprehend the appeal to be part of this type of spectacle. Chip timing has helped the starting line chaos to some degree but many runners still get stuck in runner traffic for miles.

Catering to runners, whose method of training is no training at all, can't leave organizers with much satisfaction. Ultimately it boils down to the quality of the experience at every level.  Can organizers create customer satisfaction for the masses, appeal to the health benefits of a regular exercise program while at the same time encourage runners to move to a level that explores their ultimate fitness level and fills in the upper gaps left in the wake of the top finishers? 

Let's hope that the pendulum doesn't sway too far trying to achieve large participation numbers. Caving in to mediocrity creates boredom and lack of enthusiasm.  Excellence should be something worth striving for at all levels.